30
Kim was on her own in the house. She wandered into the kitchen to make a coffee and then back to the lounge again. Wondered when Francis would be home, as he was due back with his Unit today. He hadn’t given a specific time, just said that he’d be home late.
Sitting there, alone, she realised she was basically a single woman and would be for the rest of their married life and a single parent, if they ever had children.
They had talked about this before they got married and again since, so Kim was able to take strength from the knowledge that Francis loved her and was still thinking of her, whilst he was away. She had to trust Francis implicitly, as she wouldn’t know where he was, or who he was with, many, many times over the course of their marriage. She was secure in the knowledge that he felt the same about her as she did him, but was under no illusion that essentially she was embarking on a long distance relationship. Plus the fact that there were normally three people in an Army marriage; the wife, the husband and the Army. Because, of course, a soldier is married to the Army as much, if not more, than to his wife. Kim was an exception to that rule, for she had four people in her marriage. For Francis was a man of God as well as a soldier and a married man.
She knew her prior experience and knowledge of the Army way of life was crucial in her understanding of Army marriages. Enabling her to go into her relationship with her ‘eyes wide open’ as it were. But how many Army wives had her background and knowledge? Very few. Of that she was certain. Which meant she could be in a unique position to help. Help the wives understand that the Army is their husband’s ‘other woman’. That the Army is a controller, who their husband will spend more time with than his wife. That the Army is a dictator, who expects - and gets - blind obedience.
Would she be able to listen to their anger and help them channel it into the energy they need to look after their family, effectively alone? Would it be possible to encourage and help the wives be strong until their husband returned? And then when he does return, be understanding enough to give him time to bring himself back emotionally from whatever horror he saw whilst he was away? The men needed that space, before they could re-join their families in mind as well as in body.
It was clear to Kim that someone in this role would be a great asset to Francis. The only real question therefore was - could that someone be her? And what would be the best way to proceed? She couldn’t just go around blindly offering platitudes. She wanted her help to be on a more professional basis, to make sure she didn’t do more harm than good.
The incessant ringing of the telephone dragged her back from her deliberations. Distracted and a bit annoyed, Kim grabbed the receiver. “Hello?” she barked, as though she were still a soldier.
“Is the Padre there?” a woman’s voice asked.
“No,” Kim moderated her voice, “I’m sorry, he’s away today. Can I take a message?” Kim pulled towards her the notepad and pen she always kept by the phone.
“Oh, well, alright, I suppose. It’s just that I want to give the baby back.”
Kim froze, pen half way to the paper. “The baby?” she managed, shock seriously hampering her ability to speak.
“Yes, you know the one that’s missing.
“Yes, of course, I do. Tyler.”
“That’s right. Well I want to give her back to her parents. We’ve decided to give them a second chance. But I’ll only do it if Padre Symmonds is there, as he’ll be able to make them understand.”
Kim’s questions tumbled out, “Second chance? Understand what? When? What’s your name? How’s Tyler?”
But Kerry ignored them all and said, “Is he there today?”
Kim swallowed before answering, “No I’m sorry, he’ll be back late tonight. But I’m his wife. I could meet you if you like?”
“No. No. It must be the Padre. Tell him I’ll come tomorrow. About 2 o’clock. To the church. Bye.”
“No wait!” Kim called, but the line was dead in her hand. Quickly pressing the button to cut the line, she lifted her finger and as soon as she got the dialling tone, she rang 1471 in an attempt to get the telephone number of the person who had just called her. But it wasn’t available. The caller had blocked the number before making the call.
31
“You’ve just done what?” Crane couldn’t quite take in what Kim had just told him on the telephone.
“I’ve just spoken to a woman who told me she had Tyler and that she wants to hand her over to the Wainwrights. As soon as the call ended I wrote down what she said, pretty much verbatim, before I forgot it.”
“Bloody well done, Kim. Can you come into the office?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Crane, or Tom, to you now, Kim. I’m no longer your boss.”
“Sorry, force of habit,” Kim laughed. “Anyway I’ll come over straight away.”
“Thanks, Kim, see you soon.”
Crane replaced the receiver but continued to look at the telephone in astonishment. After all that effort, someone had rung-up out of the blue, just like that. Or maybe it wasn’t just like that. After all, it was only yesterday that the Wainwright’s had made their appeal. It had been shown on the national news programmes last night and on the breakfast shows this morning. So perhaps, just perhaps, the appeal had actually worked.
Shaking himself out of his stupor, Crane grabbed the phone and called Anderson and Draper, then strode out of his office to find Billy.
***
They were all embroiled in a powwow. Crane, Draper, Anderson, Billy and Kim. All had agreed that it was entirely possible the person who had Tyler was Kerry. However, they felt they couldn’t possibly interfere and go to her flat and confront her. As Draper put it, what if it all went wrong? If Kerry felt threatened, surrounded or cornered and if she did have Tyler, the baby could end up getting harmed. No one was willing to take that risk.
“Do you mind telling us again what the caller said about deserving another chance, please, Kim?” Crane asked.
Kim took a moment to find the passage and then said, “I want to give her back to her parents. We’ve decided to give them a second chance. But I’ll only do it if Padre Symmonds is there, as he’ll be able to make them understand.”
“We’ve decided. Who the hell is we? If it is Kerry, she lives on her own.”
“That could be a pointer that is isn’t Kerry, then,” said Anderson. “Was there any sign of a second person living in her flat?”
“No, not that I can recall. Can you Billy?”
“No, boss, there was a picture of her husband and some of his stuff on her dressing table in the bedroom. I also noticed she was wearing his dog tags around her neck. I suppose she could be talking about the ‘royal we’ as it were, you know, talking as though her husband were still alive and they’d decided together.”
“What about this second chance? What’s that all about?” Crane was still perplexed.
“Perhaps she thought Julie wasn’t a good enough mother, by leaving the child outside the shop,” said Kim. “She could have thought that Julie had abandoned her child, if you try and think about it from the point of view of a warped mind that is.”
“Do you think that’s why she took the baby?” Draper looked astonished. “Because she thought the mother wasn’t looking after her properly? And that she could do a better job?” Draper seemed to involuntarily shudder at the thought, Crane noticed.
“Well, whatever the reasons, if it is Kerry, she is clearly not in her right mind,” Crane decided to put an end to the speculation. “If we’re not going into her flat, then we’ll put her under surveillance. From now until 14:00 hours tomorrow afternoon. Let’s see if she leaves the flat and if she does, perhaps we can confirm that she’s got Tyler.”
“Agreed,” said Draper. Although Crane didn’t really want his agreement or his approval, as he was going to do it anyway.
Carrying on with what he was going to say before Draper interrupted him Crane said, “As Kerry knows Billy and I, it better
not be us. Derek, how are your lot fixed for a bit of surveillance?”
“Not a chance, Crane. Can some of your RMPs do it? We’ve been so stretched with the search over the past couple of weeks, I don’t even think I’ve got any officers who could stay awake long enough to watch a flat.”
“Alright, Derek, I’ll get Staff Sgt Jones to do it.”
“Not a couple of corporals?”
“No, I won’t trust anyone other than Jones. This job’s too important.”
“Right, Crane, get it all organised and keep me posted,” Draper said as he got up and nodded to everyone before walking out in the direction of his office.
Crane got ready to go and see Jones, who he knew was as tired as the rest of them, but wouldn’t shirk away from the importance of the surveillance, once it had been explained to him.
“Anderson and I will come over and see the Padre when he’s back, later this evening. Is that alright?” Crane asked Kim. “We’ll want to discuss with both of you the best way to handle the handover of the child.”
“Of course, s…sorry, Crane,” and Kim left the office, blushing, trying to hide her pink face behind her hair.
Crane smiled as she left and then turned to Anderson and Billy. “Down to business, then,” and he almost rubbed his hands in glee, but managed to stop himself in time. He was so relieved that it looked like they were going to achieve the safe return of baby Tyler. And as a result of that they could get back to planning and co-ordinating the drugs arrests at last. For once Tyler was back, Wainwright would be able to hand the drugs to Josip Anic.
32
Kim’s text message to Francis meant he went straight home when he returned from exercise, rather than going to the Mess with his colleagues. ‘Come straight home’ was the instruction, so he obeyed it like a good husband and soldier. Wondering what Kim could have in store for him, he pulled up onto the drive, bundled his kit out of the boot and crashed through the front door to be greeted by a very serious looking trio - Kim, Crane and DI Anderson.
“Hey, what are you two doing in my house?” he called to Crane and Anderson, as he went over to kiss Kim. “Have I done something wrong? In that case it’s a fair cop!” he joked and held up his wrists for the handcuffs. But he soon realised his joke had fallen flat as all three continued to look at him without a smile between them and so he dropped into a chair. “What is it? What’s happened?”
As Kim relayed the phone call from an unknown woman, but who it was thought was Kerry Chandler, Francis’ expression matched that of his colleagues.
“Oh my,” he said. “Do you think Tyler’s okay?”
“Sorry, sir, but we have no way of knowing,” and to the Padre’s incredulity Crane gave him the background they had on Kerry Chandler.
“So let me get this straight,” Francis attempted to summarise the situation. “I’m to meet a woman, believed to be Kerry Chandler, at 14:00 hours tomorrow at the Garrison Church, with Julie and Bob Wainwright. The woman will then return Tyler to the Wainwrights. But Kerry is also believed to be the mother of the dead baby left at the church a while ago. And not forgetting that there may be a reborn doll that looks incredibly lifelike in the mix somewhere.”
“That’s about right, sir,” agreed DI Anderson. “So you see this has to be handled very carefully indeed.”
“Yes, I can certainly see that. Oh thanks, love,” he said to Kim as she placed a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. “How did she sound on the telephone?” he asked Kim.
“Perfectly normal really,” she replied. “Or at least she didn’t sound crazy, if that’s what you mean.”
“I suppose it is, but who’s to say what crazy sounds like? At least she sounded rational.”
“I guess,” Kim said, frowning as though trying to recall the voice in her head. “She was certainly talking normally at any rate.”
“So, the question really is, do you feel you are able to meet with her, Padre?” Crane said. “Obviously we’ll be in the background, somewhere she can’t see us. But it means you could be in a vulnerable position for a while, with the Wainwrights and Kerry in the same room and the baby between them. I’ll be having a stern word with Bob Wainwright to make sure his anger doesn’t get the better of him and he kicks off - with what could be dire consequences.”
“You mean Kerry could harm the baby?” For the first time Francis really understood the implications of his facilitating the meeting.
“Or Wainwright could harm Kerry if there’s something wrong with the baby, but by that time we’ll be right outside the door. We’ll be able to step in, don’t worry, sir.”
But Francis was worried, or rather very concerned, by the responsibility this Kerry woman had put upon him and he got very little sleep that night, spending most of it talking things through with Kim. Her cool, calm, support meant a great deal to him and he was seriously beginning to wonder how he ever did his job properly without her.
***
For Bob Wainwright things were definitely looking up. He could get rid of the drugs in his garage at last. As their baby was to be returned tomorrow at 14:00 hours, he contacted Josip Anic. For once the call made by Bob, rather than Anic pestering him at least once a day.
“About bloody time,” was the growl from Anic. If Bob expected pleasantness and praise, he certainly didn’t get it from the Croatian.
“Look, because of the hand over by this woman tomorrow,” Bob had completely forgotten to watch what he was saying, “the police eyes have moved away from us and they are all concentrating on the church and some bint call Kerry. So, for once I can get out somewhere other than the bloody office, without beady eyes on me. Where do you want to meet tomorrow morning?”
After he had been given instructions, Bob shut his mobile phone and took a great lungful of cigarette smoke. As he exhaled, he felt the tension drain from his body. He wasn’t worried about the hand over, he was sure he’d get his money and then all their financial problems would be solved. Julie had no idea how badly off they were. He’d managed to keep from her the fact that they had regularly been spending more money each month than he earned in his salary. And then there’d been all the expense of the baby. It meant that he’d been caught out and the credit cards and store cards, all six of them, were now maxed out with little hope of paying them off without the drugs money. And thank God no one had searched his garage. In fact a Military Police jeep that had been parked in front of his garage for the past two weeks, had kept the drugs nice and safe. That had also gone today, meaning he was free to complete the transaction.
As he walked back into the house, his mind was entirely focused on the drugs and the money, with no space left in his head for thoughts about the safe, or otherwise, return of his daughter.
The Return
Kerry settled herself carefully into the back of the taxi. She’d arranged with the Padre’s wife to hand Tyler back today, but she couldn’t remember what time they’d agreed. But Kerry didn’t think it mattered. She was ready, so she decided to go. Alan had been a bit upset to see Tyler leave them, but Kerry reminded him they still had the Mollies, so not to worry and that seemed to cheer him up. They still had a lot to do looking after two children, she’d told him.
Tyler was happily settled in the baby carrier, which Kerry had strapped around her and put the baby in. Then she put her coat on, deciding on the one she had when she was pregnant, as it was nice and big and covered the child as well as herself, so Tyler wouldn’t get cold.
After paying the driver, Kerry climbed out of the taxi and walked up to the church. Putting her hand on the door handle, she found it was unlocked and the old hinges creaked as she pushed it open. The church seemed to be empty, so Kerry walked around it, fascinated by all the flags hanging from the walls. They were regimental flags and Kerry was looking for Alan’s regiment, when a man walked in.
“Good morning,” he called, “can I help at all?”
“Oh, morning,” Kerry said, “I was just looking for my husband’s regimental flag
, but I can’t seem to see it.”
“Who is he with? Oh, sorry, I’m Padre Symmonds,” he introduced himself and held out his hand.
“I thought it must be you,” Kerry said, shaking the Padre’s hand and then pulling it away to wrap her arms around Tyler. “I’ve come to see you about Tyler. I talked to your wife on the phone yesterday. What a lovely lady she is. Do you know she offered to meet me herself? I hope she didn’t mind that I wanted you to help, not her. Is Julie here yet?” Kerry asked, all thoughts of Regimental flags gone.
“Um, no, not yet. Would you like a coffee while we wait?”
“Thank you. I hope they won’t be long, Tyler is sleeping at the moment, but she’ll want feeding soon. Why don’t you give them a ring and tell them I’m here?”
“What an excellent suggestion - I’m sorry I don’t know your name? Let’s go through to my office.”
Kerry told the Padre her name and then followed him through the echoing church into his office. She could hear a phone ringing in the distance, but he made no move to rush through the church to answer it. He seemed a bit nervous, she thought, as he kept turning round to check she was following him and also looking around the church to see if anyone else was there. When they got to his office, she sat in the proffered chair, but refused to give up the child when the Padre suggested she might be more comfortable if she took the baby sling off.
“No thank you, Padre,” she said primly, “Tyler is quite happy here,” and she encircled the baby in her arms. “So, if you wouldn’t mind, can you ring them? I want them both here mind. I want you to make them understand that they must listen to you about being better parents. They’ve been a bit lapse in their parenting of Tyler, what with Julie leaving her alone outside the shop like that and Bob not really being interested in the baby. I know that’s true,” she quickly said as she saw the Padre look at her incredulously. “Julie told me herself. In fact, she was so upset about Bob never being there, she thought he was having an affair. So, really, he must understand now that his family comes first. I want to know they’ve learned their lesson.”
A Soldier's Honour Box Set 2 (Sgt Major Crane crime thrillers Box Set) Page 38
